Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

then it was on to the other side 1-3-5-7

[Gregski]

then we cleaned the back side (closest to the firewall), man how many sides does this thing have? lol

[Gregski]

yo Jimmy can we get a birds eye view of this beauty?

[Gregski]

how about some glamour shots

not bad if I do say so myself for a Pollack n a grinder

[lkfldredneck]

Wow awesome work Greg! Block is looking mint.

Actually makes me appreciate the hot tank and wash box we had for the blocks and various parts haha only now id have to do it your way since we sold them

[Gregski]

alright, what do we get when we knock off the dirt and grime off a part?

that's right - Part Numbers!

Maybe Keith can chime in and decipher these hieroglyphs for us

[Gregski]

you all remember that bubble bath we gave to those parts, well lets see how things turned out

hmm, not too shabby - I declare that Rattle Can Ready!

[y5mgisi]

Nice Greg!

[68Timber]

Great place to check those numbers and verify what you have is mortec.com - LINK

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Gregski

alright, what do we get when we knock off the dirt and grime off a part?

that's right - Part Numbers!

Maybe Keith can chime in and decipher these hieroglyphs for us

3970010 is your standard 350 block with .010 amounts of nickel

The last picture on the pad behind the alternator is usually a partial VIN and casting code which will give you the date of when it was made.

[Gregski]

Gentlemen I just realized you have not been properly introduced to my old cylinder heads

so here they are, Passenger side first

if my hazel eyes do not deceive me I believe the part numbers are as follows

4 (no idea what that means)

882

33388? (2 I think)

L 143

and GM TPL 21-4 ? on the exhaust valve

[Gregski]

alright lets see that old stock Passenger cylinder head already

hey they did their job for 41 years, thank you heads

[Gregski]

OK, lets see them numbers on the Dirver side Cylinder Head

2

882

333882

L 133

[enaberif]

There are two variations of the 882 heads... light and heavy castings. You sir have heavy casting 882s and while they are a crappy smog head they were the best of the two and usually didn't crack in the valve seat like the light castings versions.

Also did you clean those valves off? Because they look like they were either cooking coolant or you cleaned them up.

So Rusty had that going for him.

[Gregski]

and now for the Driver side Cylinder Head

I saw this quote on the InterWeb somewheres about these heads, it made me laugh

"882's are the "Best" of the worst heads."

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by enaberif

there are two variations of the 882 heads... Light and heavy castings. You sir have heavy casting 882s and while they are a crappy smog head they were the best of the two and usually didn't crack in the valve seat like the light castings versions.

Also did you clean those valves off? Because they look like they were either cooking coolant or you cleaned them up.

So rusty had that going for him.

saweet !!!

[Gregski]

couple more things we learned from the autopsy

first the intake manifold was excellent very nice and thick part number 1256 I believe

however the head gaskets although metal, were paper thin, you can see where one failed around cylinder #1 or was close to failing

examining the heads closer there indeed was a bit of milky substance around cylinder #1, I said a little bit, ha ha

hey that's why we do what we do, know what I'm a sayin'?

[enaberif]

Those head gaskets are absolutely shot and were leaking. Stock OEM gaskets were metal shims that measured in around if I remember 0.010 thick so they seem extremely thin!

[Gregski]

years ago my buddy "Harley" Bill, picture a 6' 8" skinny Colonel Sanders from Tennessee showed me how to do a valve leak test on my '83 Shovelhead (that be a Harley Davidson for the uninitiated) using gasoline

now you could do this using water, but water molecules be bigger than gasoline, so you may need to leave the liquid in the chambers longer while you have dinner, or even overnight, where as gasoline, gives you an almost immediate feedback

so we fill the spark plug holes with [ahem] spark plugs, and flip them rascals upside down, and level them with a socket of approximate height

I like to put clean cardboard or a paper grocery bag underneath for better visability of any dripage or leakage

as you can see our old heads looked tight, if there was a problem with a valve sealing you would know right quick

[Gregski]

that's what I'm talkin' about, parts, parts, parts

20 New Old Stock push rods showed up, GM part number 14095256 cost $147.56, with just the right amount of surface rust, ha ha, but hey that's why they sell steel wool right? Yes I did say 20, I had to buy one lot of 8 and one of 12, oh well we got extras.

also got me some of them nice orange GM valve cover gaskets, GM part number 10046089 score for $26.56

[daddyjeep]

That cleaned up real nice. Good work Greg.

[Gregski]

Christmas in March! Nice, more parts

27 hydraulic lifters showed up GM part number 5232720, also New Old Stock off of eBay, yes we got extras.

Cost $95.00

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

That cleaned up real nice. Good work Greg.

Thank you bud, TON OF WORK!

Fun Level = 2

[Gregski]

Truckaholics

I must tell you that I have been stock piling some parts over the last few months that I intentionally did not share with you all since I was not ready to work on them, but now it is time, so here is the Vortec Dual Plane Intake Manifold GM part number 12464340 I bought on eBay for $127.50, but the extra $40 for shipping stung a little, so total $167.50

[Gregski]

Here are the gorgeous Vortec iron heads GM part number 12558062 I scored from the junk yard for a total of $88.00 yes that was for the pair of them. I think it was 50% OFF all engine parts that weekend at the local Pick N Pull. But I did have to go to four yards to finally find a set on the last vehicle I looked at, a 1999 Suburban, and I almost died of heat stroke that day. Things I do for you guys! JK

~ Hey me, it's me from the future, it's two years later (9/22/2018) and I gotta tell you these heads did not turn out, they were both cracked, warning to all you ambitious junk yard pullers out there, I do not recommend hunting for used Vortec cylinder heads, I pulled 5 pairs, and all were cracked! ~